01.24.07

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. - Acts 2:44-47.

And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” - Genesis 2:18.

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. - Romans 12:4-5.

Over the past ten to fifteen years there appears to have developed an affinity for privacy among the majority of people. I first noticed it with young people. When I introduce myself to a young person, giving both my first and last names invariably their response is to only say their first name. If I want to know their last name, I have to ask for it specifically. Then we have had the federal privacy rules and one development nearly all of us love is the Do Not Call List. One result of the privacy rules is that the names of those entering and leaving the hospital are no longer published in the newspaper. However, those who have passed away do still have their names published although I do wonder how long that will be allowed to continue.

An article I read this last week talks about the new status symbol of anonymity. According to the article the new status is to be non-famous, to google your name and it not to be there. A special status would be for a search of your name at myspace or youtube or other similar social sites to turn up nothing, nada, zilch. Although a recent poll by Pew Research Center of 18-25-year-olds did find that fifty-one percent of them still had the life goal of becoming famous. It may be that there is a dichotomy here that they want it both ways. After all that is what their idols who have fame are wanting. The famous want fame and the money that it brings but at the same time, they want to be anonymous - to walk down the street and no one to notice them. The famous want to be famous but not googleable.

All of this is really very sad because a complete disconnection from our fellow human beings was never something God wanted or intended. As God put it, “It is not good that man should be alone.” Yesterday, I celebrated 37 years of marriage and I am grateful that God did not want man to be alone because it would be a difficult and much less beautiful world without my wife. But God’s plan for solving the loneliness of man went far beyond the individual family. God’s plan was for a community of interconnected people from all generations to become so close and so connected that they would become the “body of Christ”.

Because of the ice storm and then the snowstorm, it has been more than two weeks since I have been able to be with my church family. I’ve missed them!! Surely, it is not God’s will for us to be alone. Whether we are famous or not, or whether we are on myspace or googleable really is not that important but no one should be alone. The great thing about what God has done for us through Jesus is that no one has to be alone. You do not have to be a part of the lonely planet. No, you can be a part of the connected planet, the really connected planet: the body of Christ.